


The way to a man's heart is through his stomach

by kittykaty



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Cooking, M/M, lasagne
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 09:45:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13233132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittykaty/pseuds/kittykaty
Summary: Aiba desperately asks Jun to give him cooking lessons.





	The way to a man's heart is through his stomach

**Author's Note:**

> Another old story from me. I have no idea where the plot came from and I think I was just craving to write one of my OTPs.

Jun felt his heart beating faster when Aiba flashed a smile at Nino. He loved the way those beautiful lips were framing the white teeth, but what made his heart race was not the way Aiba's lips were formed into the smile, but how his eyes sparkled when he was laughing. His mood would lift the moment he'd saw those eyes, but whenever Aiba was not around, Jun felt depressed and empty.

Jun knew that he was in love with Aiba. He had tried to bury his feelings, but in the end he had to admit that he was not able to betray his heart. Therefore, he had decided to life at Aiba's side – being his friend who was always there when he was needed and indeed, whenever Aiba was in trouble or feeling down, he would come to Jun who would pamper him the whole day, letting him sleep in his bed while he would take the sofa.

Aiba always said that Jun was the best friend one could have and Jun was happy to hear that, but at the same time sad. At least he felt needed and useful for Aiba and he was able to be at his side. He wished that they could stay like that...

“Jun-chan!” Aiba's head shoved into his vision and Jun blinked. Aiba chuckled at Jun's surprised expression. “You were in deep thoughts again!”, he laughed and Jun nodded.

Aiba also knew him quite well to understand his behaviour, but at least was not able to read his mind.

“I'm sorry”, he apologized. “Is there anything you need?”

“Actually, there is”, Aiba said and got down on his knees in front of Jun, looking up to him with his big eyes. “When I come to Jun-chan, he always cooks for me and it's super tasty”, Aiba began and his eyes were sparkling. “I was thinking of Jun-chan could tell me how to make a tasty dish”, Aiba went on and Jun raised his eyebrows. “The truth is, that there is someone I want to impress”, Aiba explained and Jun felt his stomach cramping.

Did Aiba fell in love?

“I hope to be able to express my feelings for him when I invite him over for dinner that I cooked by myself”, Aiba said and a slight blush crept over his cheeks.

Jun forced himself to breathe when he realized that his vision was slowly turning black. The worst case happened. Aiba had fallen in love and he was even considering confessing to this man so he must be really determined about that man.

Jun forced himself to smile. “Of course I can help you”, he said and felt himself hugged by Aiba a second later.

“You're the very best, Jun-chan!”, the tall man said happily and pressed Jun onto his body for the last time. “I'll bring all the ingredients and I'll clean the kitchen afterwards. You don't have to worry about that”, he added and Jun smiled weakly at Aiba. He felt empty and cold and even the prospect of spending a long evening with Aiba didn't lift his mood as the reason for their meeting was something Jun had hoped that it would never happen.

“I'll be at your place tomorrow”, Aiba quickly informed him before he rushed away to greet Sho who had just entered their greenroom.

Jun thought that he had very little time to prepare himself for the evening on which he was supposed to teach Aiba how to cook so that he can impress the person he loved, but if Aiba decided for something, nobody would be able to change that anymore.

 

It had indeed been little time to prepare himself mentally. Jun had been spending the last hours to convince himself that he was doing the right thing. It was his duty as the best friend to support Aiba to find his happiness. Still, he couldn't convince his heart to stop crying over the turn of events. His biggest fear was that he was going to lose Aiba to that man. He knew it must be a man Aiba fell in love with because Aiba had told him once that wasn't interested in women. Jun had tried to hide his excitement and had admitted that he liked men as well. They had decided to make this their little secret, but now it seemed that Aiba had found someone else who shared the same interests.

Jun was sure that if Aiba was in love and even found the courage to confess, he must be deeply in love. Despite what mist people said, Aiba was shy and not very confident, so he must have gathered all his courage to ask that man out for a dinner at his place.

However, Jun would hate himself for the rest of his life if he would not help his best friend in such a situation. It was his task to make sure that Aiba would find his happiness, even if it means that he would have to suffer. Additionally, Aiba was right. Jun didn't like to brag but his cooking abilities were really good and if that could really impress Aiba's love with the consequence that they would start a relationship, he would give his best to teach Aiba how to cook. Making Lasagne wasn't that hard afterall.

Before Jun could drown in his own depressing thoughts, his doorbell rang and before Jun went to open the door he took a deep breath and told himself to relax. He opened the door and was greeted by Aiba's bright smile. He was handed a bag full of ingredients that were way too much for just a simple lasagne.

“I wasn't sure how much we need”, Aiba grinned and Jun thought that nobody else but Aiba could that cute when he was embarrassed.

“Come in”, Jun said before his body decided that it could do something not so clever like pressing his bandmate's body against his. He took some steps back to give Aiba the opportunity to step inside.

I'll go ahead to the kitchen”, Jun informed Aiba, who hummed his understanding and was taking out the slippers from Jun's cupboard as he knew perfectly where everything was in Jun's flat.

When Jun reached the kitchen, he took another deep breath. The few minutes he had spent with Aiba just now had made his heart race. He forced himself to calm down and began to unpack the bag Aiba had handed him.

“So what's step number one?”, he suddenly heard Aiba's voice behind him and let the tomato fall into the sink. Again, Aiba had managed to make his heart race just after he had calmed down. Jun looked over his shoulder at Aiba, who had a small notebook and a pen in his hands, waiting eagerly for Jun to tell him what to write.

“First, you need to unpack the groceries”, Jun said sarcastically and went on taking the things out of the bag. However, when he heard the sound of someone scribbling notes, he turned around again.

“You don't need to write that down”, he sighed and took the book as well as the pen out of Aiba's hands. “I'll write it down for you later. You should rather concentrate on how we do it”, he said and put the writing material away.

“Thanks Jun-chan, you're the best!”, Aiba beamed and Jun agreed silently to Aiba's statement. Then, he shoved Aiba next to the sink and began to give instructions. He had decided that he would just instruct Aiba how to do it and give him tips instead of doing the cooking on his own.

He watched the tall man closely, hoping that he would survive the chopping of the tomatoes without any injuries, but aside from Aiba's whining that Jun was a cruel and very strict teacher, everything went smoothly and when the Lasagne was finally in the oven, Jun decided that he could relax again.

He helped Aiba cleaning the mess he had left in his kitchen in and listened to the breathy voice when Aiba told him what had happened during the last days. Actually, Jun had hoped to get some informations from Aiba about his love, so that he could have a guess about who it was, but Aiba avoided the topic nicely and talked about the filming of his new drama. Maybe it was one of the co-actors...

“Ne, Jun, for how long do we have to leave the Lasagne in the oven?”, Aiba interrupted his thoughts.

“For about thirty minutes, why are you asking?”

“Cause it's in there for forty minutes now and I thought it's a bit brown already”, Aiba answered, looking into the oven. Jun quickly joined him and turned it off.

“It's still okay”, he sighed after checking the colour. “Let's take it out!” Jun reached for the oven cloth and opened the door of the oven. He had been so deep in his thoughts that he had completely forgotten about the Lasagne. Still, he wondered why Aiba did fall in love...

“Ouch!”, Jun screamed and pulled his arm away from the hot oven. Again, his thoughts had been making him unaware about his surroundings, causing him to get burned on the oven.

“Jun-chan, what are you doing?”, Aiba asked and pulled Jun towards the sink, holding his arm under the cold water. “Am I not the clumsy one?”, Aiba went on, taking the Lasagne out by himself and put it on the oven. “Let me see”, he demanded then and Jun showed him his arm that had turned bright red on the spot where he had burnt himself.

“That doesn't look good”, Aiba commented. “The best is to keep on cooling it”, he suggested and took the cold pack out of the fridge. “Now go and sit down, I'll do the rest!”

With these words, Aiba shoved him into the living room. Jun let himself completely drown in Aiba's caring and loving attitude, knowing that it would be the last time. He watched Aiba setting the table, loving the way the other's hips moved when he was walking.

Aiba found a cream against burns in Jun's bathroom and put it onto Jun's arm. When he was satisfied with the result, he gestured Jun to sit down on the table and went to the kitchen to get the food.

Jun was trying hard to fight back his tears. All this was not going to happen again when Aiba had a boyfriend. All the love and tenderness he showed towards Jun now would be given to his new partner and Jun wasn't sure how he would be able to endure it. He would most probably have to try to avoid watching Aiba and his boyfriend. That would basically mean that he would not see Aiba very often anymore and as much as it hurt his heart, he knew that it would be the best way.

Jun took a deep breath when he saw Aiba coming back with the food. He didn't want Aiba to notice something, because it would end up in him having to come up with a good lie as he couldn't tell Aiba about his real feelings.

The dinner was nice, mostly because of Jun's will not to give himself away as well as Aiba's constant talking about everything that came to his mind.

When they were done and Aiba started to clean everything, Jun stopped him. “I'll do it later”, he said and took the dirty plates out of Aiba's hand.

“But you're injured”, the latter began to protest.

“I'm fine thanks to your good care”, Jun smiled. He didn't really want Aiba to leave but he wasn't sure for how long he could keep his façade up.

Aiba threw him a doubtful look and Jun forced himself to smile again.

“Well, then I think it's time for me to head home”, Aiba announced and for a second, Jun thought he saw a shadow going over Aiba's face, but a second later, his typical smile was beaming at him, so Jun though that he had been mistaken.

“Yeah, we have a photoshoot quite early in the morning tomorrow”, he agreed and watched Aiba packing his stuff.

“That's right! Lately we have a lot of photshots”, the older man replied, getting into his coat. “I hope we'll be seated together tomorrow”, he added then and Jun's heart began its racing again.

He smiled at Aiba. “I hope so too. Now hurry and go into your bed so that you are awake tomorrow morning”, Jun said and handed Aiba his bag.

“Yes~”, the other one sing-sanged and opened the door. “Thank you for everything”, he said then and hugged Jun tightly.

“No problem!”, the younger one said and tried to sound convincing. “I'm always there to help you”, he added then and Aiba nodded.

“That's why you're the very best, Jun-chan!”, Aiba said and squeezed Jun's hand before he finally turned around to leave Jun's flat. “Good night”, he smiled and waved.

“Good night”, Jun replied and watched Aiba turning around, walking towards the elevator. As soon as Aiba's figure was around the corner, Jun closed the door and let himself fall onto his knees. This had been the last evening on which he had Aiba just for his own. From now on he would need to share him with someone else and although every cell of his body was against that thought, Jun knew he couldn't do anything to stop Aiba. If he wanted to do it, he would do it.

Jun sighed and stood up again. He went to the cupboard in the kitchen where he kept his whiskey and took out one of his favourite ones. He told himself that he would give in to his sadness just this evening before he would pull himself together and be the friend Aiba needed right now.

With those thoughts, he poured the amber liquid into a glass, turned off all the lights in his flat and sat down on the kitchen floor, letting his tears run free while he was sipping on the whiskey.

 

It was one week after Aiba had came to Jun's flat to learn how to cook. Jun was still suffering a lot every time he saw Aiba (which, due to their work, was every day). In front of his band members, he was able to hide his real feelings. Also, Aiba hadn't mentioned anything about his crush, so Jun assumed that the date didn't took place yet. Actually, he wished that Aiba would have already done it, because then he would finally know if he would lose Aiba or not, but he knew that Aiba was still practising how to make a Lasagne.

“Ne, Jun-chan, do you have time tomorrow?”, Aiba asked and brought Jun back into the reality of their busy greenroom.

“I do”, he answered, wondering to what Aiba was up to.

“Great!”, the man shouted excited. “Will you come to my place tomorrow then? I want to thank you for the cooking lesson last week”, Aiba explained.

“I don't know...”, Jun started. He wasn't sure if it was really good for his broken heart to spend another evening with Aiba.

“Please!”, Nino suddenly joined their conversation. “Please go and tell him that his lasagne is perfect. He's making us eat that every day since you taught him and I can't see it anymore”, he whined.

“But...”, Jun started again, but Nino gave him a heart-wrenching look.

“Okay, I'll come”, Jun gave in, wondering if he could really take such an evening again. He didn't see the thumbs-up Nino showed Aiba who was smiling happily.

 

Jun took a deep breath before he rang the bell. He wasn't sure if he was looking forward to spend the next hours with Aiba or not, but before he could think about that even more, Aiba opened the door, wearing his usual bright smile.

“Jun-chan, you're exactly on time”, he said and gestured the slightly smaller man to enter.

“I need to check on the Lasagne”, Aiba said then and rushed back into the kitchen. Jun closed the door behind him and slipped into the shoes Aiba had given him. Then, he made his way to the living room.

His eyes grew wide when he entered. The dining table was covered with an expensive looking purple cloth. Little, white flowers were scattered over it giving a nice contrast to the dark table cloth. One single white candle was standing in the middle, its warm light making the atmosphere kind of magical. It looked like a table in a romantic scene and Jun wondered why Aiba had decorated it that way for the evening.

“Do you like it?”, he suddenly heard Aiba asking and felt his presence behind him.

“Yes”, he just whispered, still captured by the nice sight.

“I made it for you”, Aiba admitted.

“Why?”, Jun asked, an idea forming in his head, that he wasn't able to believe that it was true.

“Because today is the day on which I invite the person I love for a dinner to tell him about my feelings”, Aiba said and his breath tickled the skin on Jun's nape. Jun felt Aiba reaching for his hips and was slowly turned around. “This person is you, Jun-chan”, he went on, brushing a strain of hair behind Jun's ear. “I realized it a long time ago that my feelings for your were more than just friendship, but I didn't know how to tell you. Do you remember, that one day we talked about the perfect confession and you said you wanted to be invited to a romantic self made dinner. That really put me in a tight, because I really cannot cook, but I wanted to confess you in that way. As Sho, Ohno and Nino couldn't help me either, I had to ask you to teach me...”

Jun was sure that he was just dreaming. The whole time he had suffered because he had thought that Aiba was in love with another man. He hadn't realized that Aiba was planning to cook for him.

“I love you Jun and I want you to be mine”, Aiba went on talking and looked into Jun's eyes. Jun saw the hope that maybe his feelings would me mutual, but also saw the honesty in Aiba's eyes.

A feeling of pure happiness captured Jun's whole body and he felt like flying when he reached for Aiba's face to caress the soft cheek with his finger.

“I love you too”, he said and saw Aiba's eyes filling with tears. The next second, their lips met in a very soft and daring kiss and when they broke it, Jun's cheeks were wet from his and Aiba's tears. They looked into each other's eyes, conveying their feelings with them.

Then, Aiba took a deep breath and broke the silence.

“Let's eat, or it'll get cold!”

Jun agreed and sat down on the table, waiting for Aiba to come back with the dinner. It smelled good and Jun could tell that Aiba had really put his heart into it while making it.

“How is it?”, Aiba asked after Jun had taken the first bite.

“Perfect!”, the younger man said, not realizing that it was a bit salty while the noodles were still a bit crunchy.


End file.
